Alexandra Alspach

My name is Alexandra (Alex) Alspach and I am the Upper Elementary
Special Education teacher at Gettysburg School District. This is my
3rd year at Gettysburg!

I grew up in Dupree, SD which is a small town located on the Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe Reservation. My mother is the business manager at
the Dupree School District and my father drives bulk gas for Locken
Oil LLC in Isabel. I have an older sister, Felicia and she works in
Pierre at the Department of Labor. I also have a niece, Adrianna and
she is currently a 3rd grader at Kennedy Elementary in Pierre, SD. I
currently live on my boyfriendís family farm 15 miles northwest of
Faulkton, which is about 40 miles from Gettysburg. In my spare time, I
enjoy baking, cooking, doing arts and crafts and gardening. I also
enjoy taking care of our farm cats, so I guess you can call me the
crazy cat lady!

I graduated from Northern State University in May 2015 with a degree
in Elementary Education, along with minors in Special Education, Art;
endorsements in Reading and Volleyball Coaching. I completed my
Special Education endorsement in May 2016 from Black Hills State
University online.

I love working with children. I believe every child has the right and
the capability to learn. I acknowledge that each student is unique and
has his or her own way of acquiring knowledge. I work to keep students
engaged while they gain and apply the knowledge they have obtained, by
using a variety of methods and skills I have collected during my time
at Northern and from my experiences working with children.

I have a strong vision to help others and to become a compassionate
educator that will give students an opportunity to explore, be
creative and form daily discussions. Learning is something that needs
to be fun and students need to understand why they are learning what
they are and how they will apply it to their daily lives. I believe as
a teacher I will need to be innovative on how students in my classroom
will learn, I respect who they are in their day to day lives and
recognize and appreciate their diversity.

I believe that collaboration with others will be essential. The
community has a vested interest in the education program that takes
place at school and itís also very important to involve parents
because they are a key factor to public education being successful.
Education is always changing and we will need to be ready and try new
things to be successful.